


Reflections on a Cold Summer's Day

by everchangingmuse



Category: Ever After High
Genre: Episode: Epic Winter, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-16
Updated: 2016-12-16
Packaged: 2018-09-08 21:57:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8864380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/everchangingmuse/pseuds/everchangingmuse
Summary: While their friends are off on a quest to end the Snow King's curse, Apple and Raven share a quiet moment and thoughtful conversation.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lise (thissugarcane)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thissugarcane/gifts).



“Not bad, for an amateur.”

Raven Queen stopped pushing the magic mirror down the frozen corridor and walked around it to face the silhouette framed in the glass. Through her own reflection she could see her mother’s eyes glittering, hard like jewels. Raven crossed her arms, as much against the chill in the air as against whatever her mother was about to throw at her. She put her weight on her back foot, her posture showing just how unimpressed she was with the sentiment.

“I’m serious!” The Evil Queen put a hand to her chest. “I didn’t think old Frosty had it in him! Imagine, the ruler of Winter turning evil. His style is a bit heavy-handed, but he’s taking to it with gusto.” Her lips sharpened into a frown. “Unlike someone I could mention.”

Raven rolled her eyes. “Seriously, Mom? You’re turning a major disaster into a lecture on my life choices?” She shouldn’t be surprised. Raven’s decision to write her own destiny and not follow her mother’s proscribed path of darkness was a sore point between them. Not just them, but right now, Raven didn’t think Headmaster Grimm would be quite so callous. The school was in ruins.

“I’m only saying-“

Raven did not want this turning into a thing in the middle of the hall. Bad enough she’d had to bring her mother’s mirror prison down to the Charmatorium for the impromptu assembly. Worse that she had to now return said mirror to the tower where it was kept safely locked away. Even handling the mirror made Raven nervous. It hadn’t been that long ago that her mother had escaped and brought the castle to most of its current state. What she hadn’t done, Crystal’s dad had been only too happy to finish.

“Besides,” Raven said, “Crystal’s dad didn’t decide to go evil.” She held her fingers up in air quotes around the last bit. “He’s under some kind of curse. Even I could see that.” She peered into the glass, holding the Evil Queen’s gaze. “I’m surprised you couldn’t, even from in there.”

“Of course I could.” The Evil Queen let her temper slip, adding heat to her words. She only reacted like that when she was lying.

Raven let her have her moment, rather than calling her out. Why bother? It would only prolong the conversation, and Raven wanted it cut short. “You didn’t think I’d notice,” she said instead.

The Evil Queen smiled as if she’d just won some sort of victory. “Just making sure you’re keeping up with your studies, dear. Curses are tricky things, and since you’ll need to use an especially potent one some day….”

It was too cold to stand and argue, so Raven let the comment slide. She shook her head and walked around to the back of the mirror. With a sigh, she continued to push it toward the tower stairs. She’d have to use magic to get it up the long spiral staircase, but until then, it was better to use physical power. She was fairy certain her mother couldn’t draw on ambient magic from inside her prison, but Raven didn’t want to take any chances. She’d seen enough of what her mother could do for one school year.

“Can I give you a hand?”

Raven peered around the edge of the mirror to see her roommate, Apple White, standing at the junction in the hall. Unlike Raven, Apple had apparently had an opportunity to change from her usual outfit into something better suited to the weather. While her cheeks were rosy pink, she wasn’t visibly shivering.

“Thanks,” Raven said. “She’s hard to maneuver around corners.” She shifted so that Apple could help hold the mirror steady as they made the turn.

“Mind your manners, young lady,” the Evil Queen snapped. “We may be evil, but we aren’t lacking in proper graces.”

Raven and Apple shared a look. Both girls shook their heads and smiled, as if to say, “Mothers, right?”

Apple knew as well as Raven what it was like to deal with an overbearing mom. Raven had had the chance to meet the famous queen not long ago, during the Dragon Games. And Snow White was every bit as intimidating as Raven’s own mother. The amount of pride, arrogance, and rivalry between the two was almost greater than the friendship she and Apple shared.

“You must be freezing,” Apple said once they’d returned the mirror prison to its tower. “The school cloaks are heavy wool, but they’re too drafty on their own.”

“Yeah, I definitely need my winter gear.” Raven looked at the snow-strewn halls. “And maybe a few warming spells.”

“I was actually going to talk to you about that,” Apple said. “The school is too big and drafty to keep warm as it is. I’m hoping that you and Farrah won’t mind making part of the grounds warm enough for people to use. We may need to let people inside in shifts – I’m not sure there’s anywhere large enough to hold everyone that’s still structurally sound.”

Apple sounded sad, almost remorseful, as she spoke. Raven wasn’t surprised. The dragon-battle between the two of them and the Evil Queen had caused much of the damage. And Apple had been the one to shatter the original mirror prison, allowing the Evil Queen’s escape in the first place. Raven was sure that the whole affair still bothered her friend, no matter how many reassurances everyone gave Apple that she wasn’t to blame.

“Of course I’ll help.” Raven gave Apple a smile as they stepped into their room. Both their faces fell to see that the snow had blown in through the windows, and had gathered in drifts at the corners. Raven raised her hands, palms facing toward the open glass. “First, let me make sure we don’t end up turning into snowmen ourselves.”

Apple giggled as Raven worked her magic, sealing the windows with glowing purple energy barriers. “Much better.”

Raven agreed. With a satisfied nod, she crossed the room to inspect her work. As she glanced through the window, she noticed a sleigh heading out of Book End. “Quest’s begun.”

A muffled sob drew her attention away from the vista. “Apple?”

Apple had crumpled – gracefully – to the floor and was crying into her sleeve. Ignoring the lingering chill, Raven knelt down beside her. She didn’t speak, just waited. It was difficult to talk when emotions were so near the surface, and Raven had a sliver of an idea of what was going through Apple’s mind and heart.

After a long moment, Apple looked up. Her eyes shone with tears, and she looked so fairy lost and alone. A frightened girl. “How did we get it so wrong?” she asked, her voice a whisper. She looked at Raven, imploring. “Daring is THE Charming of all Charmings in our generation. He’s destined to be a true prince and king. I’m destined to be the Queen of Ever After.”

Raven opened her mouth to speak, but Apple shook her head. “We tried again.” Her voice was soft, but no longer so lost. She shifted her gaze downward. “Daring insisted. He said there might still be a chance for our fairy tale ending, if true love’s kiss could break his curse.”

Raven didn’t need to ask how that had gone. She’d just seen the white-furred Beast Daring pulling the sleigh out of the village. “Apple….”

Apple shook her head. She took Raven’s hands in her own and sniffled. “No. Don’t say, ‘I’m sorry’. For all my tears just now, I’m not. Sorry, I mean. I knew it would be a fairy fail when he asked.”

Raven raised an eyebrow. That, she hadn’t expected. “Then, why…?”

“So that Daring would understand.” Apple took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, sending a chilled cloud that vaguely resembled a knight on horseback through her lips and whispering across the space between them. “We took our destiny for granted. We didn’t stop to think about it. No one did, not even Headmaster Grimm, for the very reason I said just now. But, when I think back, think it through, look at us both without the fog of certainty…it’s obvious that Daring was never really my prince.” Apple looked up at Raven, her lips trembling as she tried to smile.

Raven blinked. It hadn’t been obvious to her, or anyone else they knew, that Apple and Daring weren’t meant to be. It still wasn’t. “Explain.”

“I’ll talk while you change,” Apple said. She got to her feet, pulling Raven along with her. “You’re going to catch a chill if you sit shivering much longer.”

Raven nodded, turning toward her closet. She hadn’t been focused on the cold when Apple was talking, but now, she felt her skin vibrating with cold. She had some nice purple and black winter gear on the top shelf of the closet, tucked carefully into a gilt chest her father had sent along from home earlier in the term. “How is it obvious?” she asked, tilting her head so her voice would carry back into the room.

“What’s Daring’s most prized possession?”

“His mirror.” Raven answered without thinking. Daring never went anywhere without a mirror. His Charmblog was nothing but selfies. His teeth were so white they could blind you if the light hit them in just the right way. Raven began exchanging her preferred outfit for a warmer ensemble as she remembered the first day of the term, when Daring had done just that. Half the school had fallen victim to dazzle-blindness just by saying hello to the future King Charming.

“Exactly. Daring’s true love, all this time, has been himself. Without his mirror, he’s a nervous wreck. Darling told me how he was when he came out of the mirror prison in the forest. And while he’s quick with a compliment that’s truly sincere, he saves his truest for himself.”

Raven turned, hopping on one foot as she tugged on a boot. “That’s not just an act?”

Apple shook her head. “He’s vain. Everyone knows that. He does, too. But he sees it as a good quality for a future king. Royalty needs to look the part.” She sighed. “I figured, before everything that happened in the forest, that I’d grow to accept it – to love it as a foible – since we were destined to be together. But I….”

Raven held her breath, urging Apple with a nod to continue.

“I…never really felt like Daring was anything more than a friend. When I look at Ashlynn and Hunter, or at you and Dexter-“

Raven felt herself flush as she shoved her other foot into its boot. “Dexter and I aren’t really a couple, per se….”

“But you like each other,” Apple said. She walked over and took the fur-lined purple gloves out of Raven’s winter box as she spoke, petting the material like she would an animal. “You have chemythtry. There’s a spark between you. Daring and I – we don’t have a spark. We never have.”

Raven sat down on her bed, looking at the dark purple coverlet. Ever since the Dragon Games and Apple’s brush with death, she’d been turning a theory over in her mind. “Maybe…maybe because you don’t need a prince to have your story told.” She looked up, and the expression in Apple’s eyes told her that her roommate had gone down this same line of reasoning. Apple offered her the gloves, and Raven took them, tugging them on absently. “I mean, in a way, you’ve lived your story now. You’ve fulfilled your destiny – at least part of it.”

Apple gave a laugh that sounded strangely hollow. She began ticking items off on her fingers. “Chased from the castle I currently call home? Check. Hidden in a forest with seven dear friends? Check. Bitten down on a poisoned apple given to me by an evil queen? Check. Fell into an enchanted slumber and brought back by a kiss? Check.”

Raven frowned. She hadn’t been present for Apple’s awakening, but she’d heard everyone talking about it after classes had resumed. “Darling didn’t kiss you. Not really. That was CPR. She was smart enough and perceptive enough to realize you’d stopped breathing.”

“CPR can be called the Kiss of Life,” Apple said. “It’s not necessarily true love’s kiss, not in a romantic way, but Darling is a friend, and she did act out of love. Friendship is a form of love, after all.”

Raven couldn’t argue with that. “And Darling doesn’t want to be a damsel. She wants the destiny her brothers have – to be a hero who rescues people in distress. Look at how she saved us in Wonderland.”

Apple nodded. “And, she is a Charming. So, awakened by an aspiring prince Charming? Check. My story – and yours – told without Daring playing the part we assumed he would.”

Raven lifted her now gloved hands. “Whoa. Back up just a page. I did not fulfill any kind of destiny there.” But even as she spoke, her mind pieced together the part she’d played. True, her mother had poisoned the fruit, and Faybelle had planted it in the basket, but Raven had been the motive. Her mother had slipped Apple the poisoned fruit in order to try and isolate Raven from her friends and help her become more evil. Even if she hadn’t done the deed herself, she was still, from a story perspective, responsible – indirectly – for her friend’s near-death experience. Her mouth fell open and she looked to Apple. There was understanding and sympathy in her friend’s eyes.

“Not exactly your story, but close enough that it means we’ve both lived out that part of our destinies.” Apple took a step back, looking over Raven’s outfit. “Perfect winter look for a not-so-evil queen,” she proclaimed.

Raven’s mind was still turning over the possibilities of a destiny fulfilled. “So, I’ve played my part. But…now what?”

Apple’s smile faltered and worry pulled at her features. “That’s where I lose track of the story. My happily ever after is supposed to be me becoming queen, like my mom. If I follow the story, I marry my prince, rule Ever After, and have a storybook life.” She looked down and away, clutching one arm with her hand. “I haven’t talked to Darling about what happened. I should, I know, but I’m still not entirely sure what I should say.”

“Say what’s in your heart. It’s what you do best, Apple.” Raven stepped forward and took her friend’s hands gently. “Speaking the truth, from the heart – that’s your thing. That’s what you do best.”

“I don’t know what’s in my heart,” Apple said, and for a moment, she looked as lost as Raven imagined Alice must have felt when she first tumbled into Wonderland. The moment passed quickly, however, and Apple drew herself up to her full height. “I’ve got some time to think about it, though. It wouldn't be right to do or say anything until our friends have put a stop to this wicked winter.” She took a step back, then another, pulling Raven with her. “Come on, roomie, we’ve got a castle to enchant.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to palmedfire for being an awesome Beta, and for helping me canon-review!


End file.
